Date

Location

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning author, marketing strategist, and public speaker RACHEL GOLD for a discussion of her novel, Being Emily. She will be joined in conversation by acclaimed poet, literary critic, and Harvard professor STEPHANIE BURT.

About Being Emily

They say that whoever you are, it's okay—you were born that way. Those words don't comfort Emily, because she was born Christopher and her insides know that her outsides are all wrong.

They say that it gets better, be who you are and it'll be fine. For Emily, telling her parents who she really is means a therapist who insists Christopher is normal and Emily is sick. Telling her girlfriend means lectures about how God doesn't make that kind of mistake.

Emily desperately wants high school in her small Minnesota town to get better. She wants to be the woman she knows is inside, but it's not until a substitute therapist and a girl named Natalie come into her life that she believes she has a chance of actually Being Emily.

In this new, expanded Anniversary Edition you will find:

A new introduction from Stephanie Burt

Updated language

Expanded and additional scenes

A new note from the author

Emily & Claire ten years later

Praise

"Rachel Gold has crafted an extraordinarily poignant novel in Being Emily . . . The careful and deliberate spacing of Claire’s chapters are extraordinary; resulting is a pacing of action that is gripping. There is definitely gold to be found in this well-constructed novel." —Lambda Literary Review

"I couldn't put it down . . . It’s not a sad or angst-ridden story at all. Instead, it feels incredibly honest, and there are moments of joy, anger, and sorrow, laced together in a way that will make you cry and laugh along with the characters. It doesn’t shy away from the hardship but it also doesn’t make the claim that this hard stuff is all a trans person’s life is ever . . . All in all, I think this is an excellent book that captures an honest, painful, but ultimately hopeful and joyful story of a young trans teen." —GayYA.org

Rachel Gold

Rachel Gold

Rachel Gold is the award-winning author of Just Girls and Being Emily, the first young adult novel to tell the story of a trans girl from her perspective. She has a B.A. in English and Religious Studies from Macalester College and an MFA in Writing from Hamline University. As a marketing strategist, Rachel presents regularly to audiences of up to 400 and trains professionals on topics ranging from branding to creating an online presence. But if that makes her sound too corporate and stuffy, you should know that Rachel is an all-around geek and avid gamer.

Stephanie Burt

Stephanie Burt

Stephanie Burt is a Professor of English at Harvard University and the author of several previous books of poetry and literary criticism, among them Belmont and Close Calls with Nonsense, as well as The Poem Is You.

Photo credit: Jessie Bennett

From

To

Harvard Book Store1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and TD Bank. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.

Unable to attend a Harvard Book Store author event? You can still pre-order a signed book by one of our visiting authors.

While we can't guarantee fulfillment of a signed book pre-order, our authors are almost always able to sign extra books to fulfill such orders.

Ordering a signed book on harvard.com:

Add the book to your shopping cart and then click Checkout.

Specify in Order Comments that you want a signed copy of the book.

Please note: online orders for signed copies must be placed at least one business day before the event. If you are ordering the day of, please call us instead.

Ordering a signed book by phone:

Call us at (617) 661-1515 and one of our booksellers will take your order. Specify you'd like a signed copy.

If you are requesting a personalized inscription and/or requesting your book be shipped, we'll need to take down credit card information. If you are planning to pick up the signed book in the store, you can pay on pick-up.

FAQ:

Can I request a personalized inscription?
Unless otherwise noted, we are happy to take requests for the author to sign your book to a specific person, but we can't guarantee it. If you do get a personalized inscription, the book will be non-returnable. We will require credit card information when you place the order.

Do signed books cost more?
There is no extra fee for a signed book!

Do I have to pick it up in the store, or can you deliver my signed book?
As with all web or phone orders, we can hold your book for in-store pickup, or ship it anywhere in the country.

I am planning to attend an author event. Do I need to pre-order a book?
No need. We'll be selling books at the event, and nearly all of our events include a signing at the end of the talk.

More questions? Give us a call!

Purchase the BookFeatured event books will be for sale at the event. Thank you for supporting this author series with your purchases.